This week Israel is mourning the loss of two of its brave men and women who defend the country from its enemies. Noa Lazar (18) and Ido Baruch (21), both pictured above, were serving in the Israel Defense Forces and were both shot dead by terrorists who only had one thing on their minds – to murder Jews.
We hear disgraceful voices from anti-Israel activists that soldiers are “legitimate targets” because of the so-called “occupation”. However, this is not true. Murdering people is never right, regardless of whether they wear a uniform or not, and we know from the terrorist’s own actions that they regularly target civilians, especially if they are Jewish.
The killing of Noa and Ido comes amid a backdrop of increased violence from Palestinian terrorist organisations, including riots from Palestinian youths in Jerusalem. We have witnessed fireworks being thrown at Jewish civilians and Palestinian men spitting at their Jewish neighbours walking past them in the streets. We have seen multiple shooting attacks against both soldiers and civilians. And an Israeli family was almost lynched as their car was battered by rock-throwing Palestinians who shattered the windows of the car and dented it all over. The family was lucky to survive.
Thankfully, the IDF has also been making progress in countering this terrorism. IDF operations in Palestinian towns within Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) have resulted in seized weapons and terrorists being arrested. While the media may paint these actions in a negative light, highlighting Palestinians being killed in the operations. Almost all of those killed were actively taking part in terrorist activities such as firebombing or shooting at the IDF. And the IDF taking these defensive measures is actually thwarting planned attacks on Israelis in the process
The Israel Defense Forces are made up of Israeli men and women who put their lives on the line to defend their land from those who seek the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. These young people serve in the IDF as part of their mandatory military service to the country. Often times this means the country’s future doctors, scientists and teachers are placed into a line of work that differs significantly from their natural skillset. Conscription for Israel is not something taken lightly. The citizens of Israel know they all need to be prepared to defend their country. The state of Israel is a tiny country in comparison to its neighbours, and many of those neighbours have attacked Israel in the past and have threatened to attack Israel again in the future. Israel’s young men and women are required to defend their country because of the threats against them.
It is as we learn in the Biblical story of Nehemiah, where the Jewish people rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem with a tool in one hand and a sword in the other. This means they were working to build the wall while actively being ready to defend it. And oftentimes be required to defend it.
Likewise, the people building the walls in Nehemiah’s times were not necessarily the natural people for the job. The Bible says that it wasn’t just trained fighters defending the walls and it wasn’t trained bricklayers building them. It was men and women of all professions, abilities and skill sets. Everyone from winemakers to rabbis did their part to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s time.
This is the same today for the IDF. People from all walks of life give up years of their lives to defend their nation. And sadly, some of them pay the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives to protect the land and people they love.
The Jewish people have always known that their survival will be a struggle. They have endured discrimination and genocide throughout history and all over the world. The evil of antisemitism is still present in this world and they must continue to fight to defend their homeland’s survival.
We are not able to be on the front lines physically, but we can do so in prayer and by making our voices heard by our government. We encourage you to keep getting involved in our petitions and campaigns so our government understands the great love we Christians have for Israel. We know this works to encourage government officials who support Israel and to challenge those against Israel.
Our latest campaign is our call for Liz Truss to move the UK Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We believe this is one of the biggest ways our government can show friendship to Israel and send a message to those who hate Israel, that the Jewish people are there to stay.
Please click here to get involved with our campaign for Jerusalem.
We call upon the UK Government to officially recognise Jerusalem is Israel's capital and move its embassy to Jerusalem.
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